Cybersecurity Guidance for Smart Homes: A Cross-National Review of Government Sources
This addresses a gap in post-incident support for smart home users, though it is incremental as it systematizes existing guidance rather than proposing new solutions.
The paper reviewed government-provided cybersecurity guidance for smart home users across eleven countries, finding that while general security advice and reporting channels are common, structured incident response guidance tailored to smart homes is rare, with only two sources offering step-by-step recovery help.
Smart homes are increasingly targeted by cyberattacks, yet residents often lack guidance when incidents occur. Since affected residents are likely to seek help from trustworthy sources, this paper asks: What actionable cybersecurity guidance do governments provide to smart home users whose systems have been compromised? To answer this question, we conduct an exploratory, user-centered review of governmental cybersecurity guidance for smart homes across eleven countries to identify and characterize the types of guidance governments provide and to systematize their content. Using a standardized search and screening process, we derive three emergent clusters: incident reporting, general security recommendations, and incident response. Our findings show that governments provide abundant general security advice and accessible reporting channels, but structured incident response guidance tailored to smart homes is rare. Only two sources offer step-by-step recovery guidance for non-expert users, highlighting a gap between preventive advice and post-incident support.